Not Aperture Science Again
by ChaoticScourge
Summary: Chell has finally escaped Aperture Science and is now on her own way. But can she make it without running back into her old "friends" at Aperture?
1. Prologue

Not Aperture Science Again

Prologue

As the elevator lifted up Chell up to the surface, she couldn't help but feel happy for her success in finally escaping the facility of Aperture Science.

When the door opened up a large amount of sunlight poured in the elevator. As she stepped out of the small shack she gazed at the huge amount of wheat was around her. Then door slammed shut behind her. Then some loud noises came from the shack and the door swung open again.

A partly burned companion cube came rolling out and the door slammed shut again. Chell grabbed the cube with both hands and started to walk through the large wheat field.

From walking so much in the Aperture Science facility, her legs had grown used to walking and were strong, so she would be able to walk father than most normal humans.

It took nearly two days before Chell got anywhere. A small town came into view as she drew closer. Lots of noise came from the seemingly small town, but she pressed on.

She stepped onto a hard black surface almost like the floors at Aperture but a lot rougher and was made of smaller stones. A car whizzed right by Chell sending small rocks flying at her legs.

Looking both ways before she crossed another car came by, this one was blue.

When she reached the other side a man in a drench coat passed her taking no notice of the woman holding a cube.

Chell crossed street after street before finally stopping at a large abandon building.

The sign was worn out so she couldn't read it. She pushed the door open carefully and stepped inside.

There was a counter and some dirty couches in a room next to the one she was currently in, with a monitor in front of one couch. Flower pots were at the sides of the couches but not flowers or plants grew in them.

Chell pushed an empty pot aside and set her companion cube in its spot.

Throwing herself on the couch she fell into a long sleep. All her dreams consisted of was her at Aperture Science and the many dangerous events that had happened while she was there.

* * *

><p>When she woke up a man was sitting on the other couch that faced sideways of the monitor. The man saw that she had awoken.<p>

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

She lifted up and shook her head up and down. The man had a thick ugly grey beard and wore dirty worn out clothes.

"Can you talk?" He asked scratching his head, which was covered by a dark green hat.

Chell answered by shaking her head left and right.

"Oh I see well umm," He started to rummage through a plastic bag that was next to him.

"Here use this," He handed her a cardboard box part that was half soggy and also gave her a marker.

She wrote her name and told him all that had happened to her and how she had managed to arrive at the town.

It took a while before Chell had finished her story about Aperture, the robots, and the large amount of time it took her to escape it all.

"Aperture Science huh?" The man chuckled. "They haven't been around since, well to be honest I don't even know, it was so long ago that I have only heard of the things that they had made in their heyday," He explained.

Chell nodded and wrote that if he had any food.

"Sorry but I'm all out," He told her showing his bag. "And by the way I'm Roger," He held out his hand to Chell.

Chell reached her hand out and grabbed his and they shook hands.

They took the rest of the day getting to know each other. And by the time the sun was setting Chell had used up almost the entire cardboard.

"Sorry Chell but I have to go now," Roger told her getting up and grabbing his bag.

She found a small unused spot on the cardboard and wrote 'why'.

"Because I don't like to stay in one spot for long, also it's not a very good spot to get some money," He explained.

Chell frowned still wanting a better explanation.

"Well I'm off, oh and for a word of advice stay away from the blue building on Maple Street," He said before he left.

Now she was curious to see what was with the blue building. Was there a group of people that would kill her if she came near? A deadly neurotoxin substance? She would have to wait till she even found the street.

Chell got up from the couch she was sitting on and grabbed the cube.

There was a cold violent wind blowing across the streets, picking up dust making it hard to see.

She walked for a while before spotting a shop.

When Chell had been wondering around town the day before, she managed to find two dollars and thirty two cents. Quite a bit for today's stander just walking around.

Chell walked in and saw some delicious looking food making her mouth water, but she knew it was too expensive with her measly two dollars and thirty two cents.

There was some other people walking around the store maybe two or three as far as Chell could see.

She reached the back of the store and found the produce section. She moved her hand forward and got a bright green apple, but noticed a little close by laid potatoes.

She picked up a potato and held it for a while. It reminded her of GLaDOS when she was a mere vegetable.

Chell put the potato back and went to the check-out. Before she got there she also got a bottle of water too.

The cost of it all was two dollars and fifteen cents, taking away almost all the money she had found.

But she didn't care at least she now had food to eat and something to drink.

Stepping back outside it had turned dark; the wind still howled though the night.

Chell shivered a bit and went back to the abandoned building. Setting all her stuff down she laid on the couch looking up at the half rotting ceiling.

Falling back asleep her dreams of Aperture Science started to fade as each new day would pass.

* * *

><p>Waking up again to a dim lighted room her stomach growled. She took the apple from where she had set it, which was on top of the companion cube. The first bite of the apple was sweet and delicious. She drank a little bit of the bottled water.<p>

She finished eating the apple and took the small water bottle and cube. She started to head outside the building.

The cube's weight seemed to increase the more she carried it around.

Chell had stopped at a small park. There were some people jogging, riding bikes, and small kids playing.

The sun's warmth felt good after last nights bitter cold wind.

The companion cube's singed parts were still visible but it was still mainly clean.

Eventually Chell had come to the painful conclusion of leaving the cube behind. It was getting to heavy to carry and was taking up some of her strength she could be using for walking.

Setting it by a small pond in the semi-green grass she patted some of the black dust off and left it.

She now only had to carry the water bottle which was indeed easier to hold now without the cube, but she would always miss carrying the cube around.

Chell carried on walking till she got to a very long empty road called Maple Street.

AN~ I hope that I will be able to continue this story. I like how it is turning out so far. Chapter one should hopefully have more action in it as Chell continues her way in her new life.


	2. Maple Street

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 1 – Maple Street

The street seemed endless and Chell didn't even know if she was going the right way or not. It was like a small high way but with no cars and a lot smaller.

Chell was lucky enough to find an old wallet lying in the middle of the road. There was only about twenty or so dollars in it, but Chell didn't care at least she had more money to use if she found another shop.

She put it in her left pants pocket. Continuing on her way she finally got to some new buildings; all of them were abandoned and almost destroyed.

Chell went up to the first one that appeared on the right. It was a small brick house with a metal fence surrounding the dying grass.

She jumped over the broken gate and went to the front door. There was no door knob and the door was jammed shut. She had to keep pushing on it till it opened almost making Chell fall over.

It had a very strong musky smell and it was covered in dust. There was little furniture and it was covered in plastic rapping.

The kitchen had water damage everywhere and there was no food in any of the cupboards. Rats scurried along the floor looking for food for themselves.

Stepping back outside a car went flying by her, above the normal speed limit. It was the first car she had ever seen on this road. The car didn't stop but kept going like the driver never saw Chell standing there.

She was used to being ignored by people now so it didn't bother her much. Maybe it was because of how she was dressed or how her hair looked.

The rest of the afternoon Chell went from building to building looking carefully though each.

One interested Chell the most, it was a tall grey bricked building. She went inside and found a small office containing a bunch of computers and desks. Most of the desks were broken or falling apart. She went up to one of the desks that was still standing.

A can of beans was lying on the floor next to a broken swivel chair by the desk. She rolled the can over with her foot and on the other side it read Aperture Science and with the usual logo next to the name.

Not wanting to waste food she picked it up and took it with her. The rest of the building looked as if they had been testing food, researching different things with it.

They had some other packaged food but it was old and rotting in the torn bags.

The sun had already set by the time Chell reappeared outside. Something from behind Chell rattled around. The sounds were coming from the side of a dumpster that was covered in food rapping's.

Chell picked up a broken pipe that was lying by the dumpster. She held it in both hands as she turned the corner to see what was making all the noise.

A turret that was almost split in half was moving forward with the use of its small legs.

It would occasionally send sparks from the opening on the side of it. The turret couldn't even speak like most others could.

Not wanting it turret to be wandering around Chell wacked the rest of the turret to pieces. The red glow from its eye went out and it stopped twitching and sparking.

After destroying the turret Chell went over to a different building, a store but this one had its windows covered by wooden boards. Along some of the wooden boards were bullet holes, some bullets made it though and some didn't.

Searching for a way to get in Chell noticed turret parts lying around the outside of the building scattered.

_Where the turrets protecting the store or attacking it? _Chell thought about it.

Finally she came to a large hold in the wall. The rubble lay around in large chunks around the hole.

_No turret could have done this, _She picked up a brick from the ground. She chucked it across the road hitting a blue already dented mail box.

Stepping around the layer of bricks on the ground she went inside the store. There were some sandbags stacked up, plastic tables behind the sandbags, and some partly melted candles scattered around the floor and tables.

All the store shelves and racks were completely empty and so was the back storage area. Empty boxes were all around the tables, still none of them held anything in them.

Chell decided to stay the night there. Some mattresses were by the check outs, a little scratched up and dirty but fine.

She laid down her stuff on the check out counter and went to sleep on one of the mattresses.

* * *

><p>The next morning Chell managed to get the can of beans open by hitting it on the edge of the counter. She got a candle lit with one of the matches that she had found on the floor.<p>

Thankfully there was an empty pot over by the kitchen section of the store.

It took a while for the beans to warm up and when they were done they tasted alright, but a little cold though.

When Chell finished eating she went to a table that was the most protected by the sandbags and wood boards. There were some papers on it detailing on what happened there and some battle plans.

Apparently during a food duplication process Aperture was trying to do, it created a food creature that destroyed the whole town.

The rest of the survivors of Aperture and the town, held up here and used turrets around the outside to protect them. But the food creature would sometimes use the turrets against them by turning them toward the store or throwing them.

The last half of the paper was illegible so Chell couldn't tell if they had won or not.

Back outside it had started to rain. The clouds were a light grey so it would stop raining soon and a wind was blowing so that would help push the clouds away.

Towards the very end of the town a blue skyscraper like building had appeared in view.

_Was this the building the old guy had warned her about? _Chell thought for a while if to go in.

Finally Chell took a step toward it and then went inside. It had a chilling feeling and was very strange inside. It did have desks but it also had some other objects Chell didn't know what they did.

She found a bulletin board at the back with elevator levels on it and other papers stapled onto it. Surprisingly it went down also. Most of the words were smudged out so Chell choose to go to one of the ones she could read, B18. (Bottom floor 18)

This elevator was unlike the ones she was used to riding; it was a lot bigger than them and had more room to move around.

Unfortunately when she tried to click any of the buttons nothing happened, so she had to go find the stairs, if they had any, and walk down to B18. Leaving the old elevator she saw a large wooden door beside to the elevator about 3 or 4 feet away.

The door had a glass window on it that was broken so Chell would be able to see inside. A different sign was plastid on the front of the door reading, 'Ground Level'.

Chell carefully pushed at the door but it didn't budge. She had to go and reach in though the broken window and unlock it from the inside.

When her left are rubbed against some of the glass pieces, stilling hanging on, it cut her arm as she moved her hand toward the door handle.

Chell was able to get the door open along with getting some new cuts on her left arm. It really didn't matter she was used to getting hit and cut by stuff.

Inside the stair way it was dark and hard to see. Some of the metal steps were broken or even missing. Being very careful of where she stepped Chell managed to get to B17.

The rest of the stairs were completely missing so she couldn't get to the floor she had wanted to go to originally.

Unlike most of the other doors this one was metal along with the other five she had already passed. She unlocked it and went inside the room.

The floor had a light frost on it. There was also some frozen food lying on some metal tables and a turret to the side of the room that was frozen from the coldness of the room.

The floor had a very unusual coloring there were some grey tiles that were very big, but there were only three and the rest was black. The three grey tiles were at the center of the room along with another turret but something was odd about this one.

Its red light went on. "Hello friend," the turret said before firing bullets at Chell. She was able to jump out of the way in time before getting hit by any bullets behind a metal table. The turret was wearing a dark blue sweater to keep it from freezing.

_Great this is all I need now, _Chell thought as the turret stopped firing.

"Resting," the turret closed up and then Chell ran from her spot to another metal table before the turret could see her.

Chell needed to get behind the turret so she could knock it over or move it so it couldn't do any harm to her.

Then before Chell could do anything something started to move behind her. Spinning around to see what was moving around, it was a very ugly rusting metal robot missing a hand. It wore a different thing to keep it from freezing like the turret.

"All humans are to be kept in cryogenic storage only authorized personnel are allowed to be kept out," It said, the voice close to the announcer back at Aperture.

It moved its good hand to a button near it and pressed the button. The turret was encased in a protective glass as robotic claws dropped down from the ceiling grabbing Chell. The three grey tiles lifted up and revealed the cryogenic storage units.

She started to struggle as the claws took her to one of the units. Her struggling to break free was useless at the moment. When it took her past the turret it tried to shoot her, but couldn't because of the glass.

It took her to the middle unit and one of the claws opened the door to it.

_No I don't want to be trapped for even more years, _Chell struggled harder and broke the claw that was holding her right arm.

Before she could break another claw another came in its place and took hold of her flailing arm.

The claws strapped her in the unit, even though when they broke off once the claws closed the door. It started to get cold fast and Chell tried to break the glass holding her in the unit. The glass didn't break and she got weaker and weaker as her eyes closed slowly from the cold.

The last words she could hear from the turret before she fell asleep were, 'Good night'.

AN: It was kind of hard thinking of a way Chell would get trapped for some more years again, so I made up the cryogenic storage robot care taker. But I still like how this chapter turned out.


	3. In Space

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 2- In Space

Wheatley sighed as so many years had passed since the day he and Space Core ended up in space. And the Space Core would still not shut up about space.

"I'm in spaaace!" The yellow eyed core screamed as loud as he could.

"Oh look an asteroid belt! What will I do?" He asked himself.

"I know what about you shut up!" Wheatley yelled. But the Space Core yelled back, "Oh I know I'll wear the belt!"

Wheatley had to give Space some credit it was a pretty good joke, a little corny though. He turned his optic around to look at the asteroid belt Space was yelling about. The rocks didn't orbit a planet but seemed to be flying around wildly.

"Don't you think we're getting a little too close to that belt?" Wheatley asked Space.

Space looked at him and twitched. "I get to meet an asteroid belt?" Space asked Wheatley instead of answering the question.

"Yes, but what do you think will happen if we end up in it?" Wheatley's voice started to rise from his impatience.

"We'll be part of it! Ooohhh I'm gonna be part of a belt!" Space yelled spinning around. Wheatley shook his optic, _what will really happen?_

It took a long time before they got in the belt. Space bumped into a small rock sending him spinning into Wheatley. "Ouch! Watch where you're going!" Wheatley shouted but he got hit by a rock also.

They had started to go faster flying though space from hitting the rocks. When they were finally out of the asteroid belt Space Core cried because he wasn't in the belt anymore.

They passed a planet that was far to their left. "Hey doesn't that planet look familiar, like we've passed it before?" Wheatley asked the Space Core.

"Pluto!" Space yelled as they were passing it. Because of the speed they had picked up from the asteroid belt they were already flying by Neptune. After that they passed by Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter.

_I wonder if we will have a chance to get back to Earth, _Wheatley thought as they passed Mars. The blue planet appeared in front of Wheatley and Space. _Yes finally we can go back! _He watched the planet get bigger as they came closer.

"Wait aren't we going to fast?" Wheatley had to yell as Space to get him to hear. The Space Core was busy screaming about not going to be in space anymore to hear Wheatley.

_I really don't think we will be able to make it in one piece, I will never be able to tell them I'm sorry, _Wheatley was thinking as they hit some satellites.

Hitting over twenty or so satellites, it slowed their speed, but not enough to let Wheatley know that they would be safe.

The earth's gravity started to pull them down increasing their speed back up and faster. Fire started to come off of Wheatley and Space as the ground came into their view.

_This is it we will both die, _Wheatley closed his optic as both cores hit the ground causing a huge earthquake and a large crater from where they hit.

Against all odds Wheatley and Space were still alive, but barely. Wheatley had part of him almost falling off and Space was even worst then Wheatley because he had hit the ground first. Space's optic was partly falling out and the little holders were bent and broken. They would die if they weren't fixed, but the only person who could was GLaDOS.

AN~ Sorry for this chapter being so short there wasn't much to work with when they were floating around in space. The next chapter will be longer than this one and hopefully the best of the other chapters so far. But until then I hope you like it so far.


	4. Wheatley

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 3- Wheatley

Chell woke up in the cryogenic storage room on the floor. The unit she had been trapped in was laying next to her the door was broken and the glass shattered.

She sat up and looked at the new huge gapping hole in the ceiling. Dirt filled half the room and had a small amount of sunlight coming in from the top of the hole. The turret and the cryogenic robot were also covered in dirt broken.

Collecting herself, Chell started to walk up the steep slope. Outside of the hole was the town, but all the buildings were shorter and the bricks eroded away.

The store she had spent the night at was shorter than Chell now and some of the shelves had fallen down covered in dust. The tables were all missing along with a few sandbags as well.

There were some very large roaches crawling around on the road, but ran off when they saw Chell. She walked up to a street sign, it was bent backwards and all the letters had faded away.

Even the street its self was eroding away, parts of it missing. Some of it was cracked along the middle and the edges.

The turret parts that had been lying around the store and street were all gone also. Chell had no other option but to start walking down the street again.

Chell walked for the whole day and half the night before she had to camp out on the side of the road. The night was almost freezing cold and it was new moon so it was very difficult to see anything. She untied her jacket that was around her waist and used it was a blanket for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>When morning came Chell was already up tying her jacket back around her waist. It had almost blown away during the night but Chell was able to grab it before it did.<p>

Some dust started to fly up and hit Chell's face. She wiped it away and tried to keep her vision at an angle, to keep the dust out of her eyes.

A small settlement appeared, not like a town but more like a camp site, but with building instead of tents.

Chell wandered through it and was still unable to find anything or anyone. She didn't know how long it would be till she would find another town, city, or settlement. So she decided to stay there for a while and then leave when the sun was near setting.

The wind had started to pick up again by the time the sun was setting. Chell had taken a quick nap to help restore some energy.

She hoped the night wouldn't be as cold as it was the night before, but she would warm up from walking.

It wasn't too long before Chell got to another site. This one looked like it had been set up not to long ago and it had actual tents. Chell noticed that there were some people walking around in the site.

Chell waved her hand to see if she could get anyone's attention. A man wearing a thick leather jacket saw her and waved back. She started to move toward the site but stopped as she saw that they all had guns with them.

_Are they really friendly or will they try to shoot me? _Chell was thinking and didn't notice that the man was walking toward her.

"Hello? Are you a traveler?" He asked her. Chell shrugged and saw he had black hair and light brown eyes. He did have a bit of a beard, but it was small and hard to see against his dark jacket.

"Well me and my group are travelers. And we can offer you some food and a place to stay for the night," He lead Chell toward the camp. The tents were very strong and hammered down into the ground to keep them from blowing away. Two fire pits were in the middle of the site, burning brightly in the growing darkness.

They got to the camp in a few steps and the rest of the group was all out and around the camp. "This is our group, Hannah, my wife," A brown haired young woman came and shook hands with Chell. "And Charles the food cook," A man wearing a green apron waved at Chell. "Stephen the weapons man," The man was messing around with a small pistol and waved quickly. "There is Jaclyn our navigation expert," He pointed to a girl working at a table with a map. "And I'm Richard," He finished introducing everyone.

"I'm going to guess that you don't speak much," Hannah said sitting down on an old fold up chair.

Chell shook her head and untied her jacket again and put it on. "Cold isn't it?" Hannah asked. Chell nodded again and sat down on a chair across from Hannah's.

Stephen and Charles were sitting next to Chell. Stephen was now messing around with a rifle barrel. Charles was moving the stuff around in his pockets, which were some cooking knives.

Jaclyn was still at the table writing down locations and probably choosing there next destination. Richard had been looking around for some extra paper so Chell could write on it. He got up from a black backpack with a sheet of paper and a pen. "Here you go," He gave the paper and pen to Chell.

She wrote her name, but not anything about what had happened to her in the past. She did however tell them that she was looking for a town or some place to stay.

"Well most towns around here are destroyed ever since those meteorites hit the ground," Richard told her.

Chell looked up at him with interest about these meteorites. "If you keep heading down the road you'll pass it on your right, but its many miles away," Richard continued. "Most of the life here has changed for people, but most moved out and barely anyone lives out here anymore," He finished.

Chell wrote on the paper asking them where they were going. "We aren't going anywhere specific, but we only travel in this area to help others, like you, get on their feet and out of here," He told her after reading the paper. "Where are you headed?" He now asked Chell. She wrote down that she wanted to check out where the meteorite had hit. "Just be careful it's a pretty deep crater," He explained.

While Chell and Richard talked Charles had started making soup for everyone. It was canned soup so it wouldn't go bad. The soup had chicken with noodles in it. When it was down Charles went and set a bowl in front of everyone and poured a small amount in each.

"We have to save what we have of our food out here," This time Stephen spoke. "We send one person out to get more food, but so far we are doing good on what we got now," He stopped talking and began eating his soup. Chell ate her soup fast because from being stuck in the cryogenic unit made her hungry and from her walking so much.

"I can see you like my cooking," Charles joked around. Chell nodded and continued to finish her food. Once they were done eating Hannah and Stephen went to their own tents.

"You can sleep in this one Chell," Richard opened a tent door. Chell wrote thank you for everything that they had helped her with. "It's nothing we do this all the time for people," He patted her on the back and went to join his wife. There was a sleeping bag and a small pillow on the floor of the tent. It was pretty comfortable and warmer than Chell's jacket.

* * *

><p>The morning air was humid and a fog was around the camp. Richard was sorting the guns with Stephen. Hannah was talking to Jaclyn about their next destination and Charles was busy cooking breakfast. It was some crackers, eggs, and bacon. It would be a while before the food would be done.<p>

"Morning Chell," Richard and Stephen were done sorting the guns and had come up to Chell. "How did you sleep?" Richard asked. She picked up the paper and wrote that she slept well. "That's good," He gave the paper back to her. "So what time do you plan to head out?" He asked her. Chell wrote maybe after breakfast. "Okay that's good we are planning to leave around noon to settle at a new spot," He told Chell.

A few minutes past before the food was done. The food was good even though Chell had only got one piece of bacon, one egg, and three crackers. Chell started to reach for the paper but Richard stopped her. "We know that you're probably going to be leaving now," He said and Chell nodded. "Does anyone want to say good-bye to Chell before she leaves?" He asked everyone.

Hannah came up to Chell and put her hand on Chell's shoulder. "Good-bye Chell and have a safe journey," She moved back beside Richard. Stephan came up next holding a hand gun. "Here use this just in case you run into any trouble," Stephen put the gun in her right hand and told her how to use it. Charles came up now with a plastic bag of some assorted food. "Use this food wisely and don't waste any of it," He put it in her left hand and stood back. Jaclyn was last to come up and gave Chell a map. "So you don't get lost," She told Chell putting the map in the bag.

Chell smiled and turned around and started to walk to where Richard told her the crater was.

Richard was right about it being miles away she had already traveled over 46 miles so far, but she had more to go. The sun's heat had gotten hotter making the fog disappear and the wind started up it. The wind was cold so it was almost perfect walking wheather.

After Chell had walked another 13 miles she decided to stop on the side of the road like last time. It had already turned to night so she would camp out here and continue walking in the morning. She ate two crackers and one apple Charles had put in the plastic bag. It wasn't much but enough for her to keep going.

Something on her left side started to scurry toward Chell's food bag. She had put the hand gun in her right pants pocket and now she was pulling the gun out.

A large brown spider came into her view. It had large fangs that were dripping venom. The spider had been attracted by the scent of the food she had eaten. Because the spider was obviously poisonous and larger than her foot Chell had to shoot it so it wouldn't bite her or take any food.

She lifted the gun up and shot it in the middle of its body. The spider died but its legs still twitched occasionally. Chell still had five rounds left in the gun. She didn't want any creature stealing food while she was asleep so she tied the bag and covered her jacket over it. Chell didn't have to worry about it blowing away or the cold because the wind had died down and was a steady breeze.

She laid down resting her head on the bag lightly so she wouldn't squish the rest of the food she had. The whole rest of the night the wind had stayed the same.

* * *

><p>Chell woke up when the sun was just a little over the horizon. She took her jacket off of the bag and tied it back around her waist then picked up the bag. Chell picked up her pace a bit to cover more ground.<p>

When Chell had traveled more than 56 miles she could just see the outline of the crater that Richard had told her about on her right side. They were right about the land around the crater; it was completely leveled and empty. She hurried along to get to see in the crater.

The sides of it went around the road so people would have to go around it. The crater was surprisingly deep and she could barley make out the bottom. There were two tiny dots that were grey looking with some other grey dots around the two larger dots.

Chell started to decide how she would get down to get a look at the dots. The steepness of it was the reason why most people didn't try to go down into it. She put her bag near the edge of the crater. Chell put both her legs in the crater seeing if the dirt on the side would support her weight and it did.

She edged her way slowly down it. Chell would be able to stand up about halfway down it but she was still near the top. While she was climbing down some of the dirt came loose under her left food sending her sliding down the side of the crater. She caught a rock that was sticking out of the wall, before she fell any further. She put her feet back on the wall to get her hold back on it again.

She let go of the rock when she was ready to go. Chell continued down the wall almost halfway down. As she got closer the two circular figures started to look familiar.

_Is that really? No he is in space, _Chell thought as she drew closer. She was now halfway down and could stand up. Chell walked over to the one that lay in the middle of the crater. _Wheatley? but how did he ever get back, _Chell touched his side. Wheatley's optic flew open and startled Chell making her fall backwards.

"Who's there? Oh it's you!" Wheatley looked at Chell as she was getting back up. _How is he still alive? _She went back over to him. "I'm sorry for what I did but can you pick me up and take me out of this crater?" Wheatley asked Chell. She looked at him then at the other core that was most damaged. Wheatley followed her gaze over to the Space Core.

"Yeah Space took it hard when he hit," Wheatley said as some sparks came from his optic. Chell walked over to Space Core. "Hey where are you going?" He asked her. Chell ignored him and kneeled down and fixed the top handle bar back together and clicked the bottom one back on his body. Then she pushed his optic back in and he looked up blinking.

Space looked at Chell for a moment then at the sky. "Where'd space go?" He asked now looking in every direction. "Hey! Can you please take me out of here?" Wheatley called. Chell lifted the Space Core up and took him over to Wheatley picking him up too. But Chell only ended up dropping Wheatley back down.

"Ouch why'd you just drop me?" He asked Chell, but she had started to climb out of the crater with Space Core in one hand. "Hey don't forget me!" Wheatley yelled. Chell just ignored him again; obviously he couldn't tell that she can't carry both of them at the same time.

It took her a while before she got out with Space. She had slipped two times while trying to get out. Chell set Space next to her stuff. "Space? Space?" The core was looking at the sky again.

Chell lowered herself back in the crater to get Wheatley out. He looked up and saw her climbing back down. "Oh thank you I thought you were just going to leave me," He nervously laughed. Chell didn't slip this time going down, but had to stop for a while before continuing to Wheatley.

"Are you alright?" Wheatley asked Chell. She looked down at him then continued down again. Chell went over to Wheatley and picked him up also fixing his top handle bar back in place. "Thank you," He said when she had fixed it. "But it won't be enough we need to be fixed by," But before Wheatley could finish Chell dropped him.

"Ouch! Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean that you had to go back," He started as Chell stood still looking at him. She shook her head and picked him up again and started to climb out.

She set Wheatley next to Space, who was babbling to himself, when she got out of the crater. "Can you please? I know that she would probably just kill us but it's worth the try," Wheatley trailed off as Chell started to pick up her stuff. She looked back at Wheatley and closed her eyes and sighed.

Chell moved the plastic bag on her left shoulder and picked up Wheatley in her left hand by holding his top handle bar. She held Space in her right hand by his bottom handle bar. They were pretty heavy together but she had carried heavier before. She knew that she would probably be trapped and maybe forced to do testes again but she had nothing better to do and they both needed to be fixed, that's if she does decide to fix them.

Chell started to walk back toward the old abandoned town .She would pass the first town she had arrived at then go through the large wheat field. Then she would hopefully arrive at the random shack in the middle of the wheat field and enter the elevator back to GLaDOS.

AN~ This is the longest chapter I've ever written and I'm tired, but at least it was fun. The next chapter will probably be a little bit shorter than this one I think. Thank you for reading so far. :D


	5. Return

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 4- Return

Chell had already been walking for 5 days and didn't make much progress with the combined weight of The Space Core and Wheatley. The sun was currently being covered by clouds and there was no wind. "Space is gone? Where did space go?" Space wouldn't stop asking. "Space is up there and you're not in it," Wheatley told him, but as usual Space would just keep babbling on to himself.

"Do you know if we are there yet?" Wheatley asked Chell. He felt her shrug her arms. "Oh, but you came from the exit of Aperture so you should know," He kept speaking not knowing Chell had stopped listening.

When Chell passed the old abandoned town it still looked the same when she had left it the first time. Wheatley had commented that the place looked like a dump.

But one thing Chell did know is that they were close to the first town Chell had arrived at. She wondered if it looked as bad as the other town or if it was still standing. She would soon find out because she could make out a small building appearing in front of her. Wheatley and Space hadn't noticed it yet but were about to.

"Hey what's that?" Wheatley squinted at the town as Chell brought them closer. She wondered if Wheatley would ever realize that she couldn't speak, but she would just have to ignore it.

Chell could see that the town did seem the same but with a few building that had fallen over and the rest of them were covered in dust. It was a little like the other town just not as destroyed.

"This place looks just as bad as the other one," Wheatley was looking around. Chell wish he would stop with his comments already about every single little detail. "You see that building over there, they should have made it a little taller to avoid it falling over," Wheatley said, even though what he was talking about made no sense. Chell was about to loose it with him yammering on about the most random things. Wheatley finally stopped talking and looked up at Chell. "You alright?" He asked. Chell just sighed and shook her head.

"I can't tell is that a yes or not?" He was still looking at her. Chell continued walking ignoring anymore questions he was asking. She found the store she had bought food at when she had come here the first time. Chell walked toward it hoping they would still have some food in it. "Why are we going there?" Wheatley asked her. Before Chell went inside she set Wheatley and Space down. "You can't just leave us here," Wheatley was complaining as Chell went inside.

Holes dotted the ceiling letting in light so Chell can see. Shelves were on the ground, moved around, and broken. Thankfully there was a shelf that had canned food on it. She grabbed all the cans that were on it, two soup cans, one can of beans, and three peach cans. She didn't want to stay in the store any longer so she went back to Wheatley and Space.

Space was awake now and talking to Wheatley about Space. "Yes we were in it and now we aren't, get over it already," Wheatley was telling Space as Chell came back out. "Hey you're back! What did you get?" He asked her seeing the cans in her arms. Instead of ignoring him she put a can in front of him. "Canned Peaches, Oh you got food well thankfully me and Space don't need to eat," He was talking while Chell was trying to open a can of peaches.

She hit it on a nearby rock, which had come from the store wall, cracking the lid off. The peaches looked good and edible. While she was eating Wheatley was talking about how he thought peaches tasted like. Wheatley was way off on what he thought they tasted like. He said they tasted like cheese even though he didn't know what cheese tasted like either. She finished eating about the time the sun already set. "Are we going to continue walking anytime soon?" Wheatley asked. Chell only answered by yawning. "Oh yeah I forgot that you humans have to sleep too, well I guess me and Space will just wait here," He stopped talking as Chell started to lie down. "Well good night I'll see you when you get up, not like I'm going anywhere," Wheatley's boring babbling put Chell to sleep. Space was whispering to himself about being able to see space again, watching the night sky.

* * *

><p>Chell got up from her sleep with Space very close to her staring at her. She jumped but then realized that he must have fallen or rolled over next to her in the night. She looked over at Wheatley who was surprisingly not talking, well at the moment. He was staring over at a brick building that had fallen over. Chell tapped him and he looked at her. "Oh hey you're up now, good we can get a move on," He said waiting for Chell to pick him up. She didn't pick them up instead she sat there staring at Wheatley. "What? Do I have something on me?" He asked trying to look at himself. Chell shook her head. "Then what? Oh I get it, can you please pick me up?" Wheatley asked. Chell nodded and picked him, Space, and her food bag up that now had the rest of the canned food in it.<p>

Before she wanted to leave she had to see if her companion cube was still there. She carefully made her way back to the park of where she left it. The grass was all dead and the trees drooped down, its branches almost touching the ground. She found the pond all dried up, but no companion cube. "Why are we here?" Wheatley asked Chell, but she was busy looking around. She set Wheatley and Space down by an old bench that was near the pond. Something shiny reflected on the ground. She moved the dead grass off of it and found a circular object with a heart on it. It sort of looked like a plate that could be converted into a necklace. She put it in her bag and went back to Wheatley and Space taking them and walking off again.

She reached the edge of the town by noon. The wheat field that had once been here was gone and there was only dry dirt with nothing even growing in sight. "Are we there yet?" Wheatley piped up. Chell dropped him and picked him back up. "Ouch! Sorry a simple no would have been good enough," He said. "Do you know how long it will then?" Wheatley asked. She held up her hand only having two fingers up. "Two weeks?" Chell shook her head. "Two years?" She shook her head again. "Oh, two days!" Chell nodded, finally he got it.

While they were walking for day one, they passed some more spiders. These ones were little smaller that the other one Chell had to kill, and less aggressive. They were crawling around looking food. Chell didn't do anything that would cause them to notice her and kept walking. She didn't like any of the spiders they saw, they were too big. As she walked she started to see more and more rocks appear unlike last time when she walked through here. Well maybe it was because it was covered in wheat and she couldn't see anything other than that.

She walked a little under halfway there when night came. Before it had turned dark Chell had got another peach can open. Chell found a spot not to rocky or spider covered. She put her bag down on top of a flat rock and put Wheatley and Space at the sides of the rock. "Are we stopping already?" Wheatley asked and Chell shot a glare at him telling him that he should shut up.

Chell sat down on the rock with her bag on it and ate the peaches quickly, hoping none of the spiders would come. After she finished eating the night had turned cold and the full moon was out. It was easy for Chell to see just in case any spiders came out. She sat down on the ground and used her jacket again as a blanket. Space babbled on like last time about being able to see space. Wheatley wasn't talking but probably thinking on what he should do when he comes face-to-face with GLaDOS.

* * *

><p>In the morning Chell was up and getting her stuff ready to go. "So are you almost done yet?" Wheatley asked. Chell answered by picking him and Space up. "Oh good, so we just got one more day, which is today," He sounded happy but a little nervous at the same time. To be honest Chell knew they didn't have much farther to go because she had been walking faster then she had before. It wasn't much longer before she could see the shack. "Is that it?" Wheatley asked and Chell nodded to him when he looked up at her.<p>

The shack looked exactly the same despite all the time that had passed. It was probably stronger than it looked considering it was Aperture Science made. Chell set Wheatley and Space down when she was standing in front of the door. She pulled on the door, it was very heavy but she got it open. She leaned in and saw the elevator welcoming her in. Going back outside, Chell grabbed Wheatley and Space putting them in the elevator first. It was a little cramped and Chell had to have on food on Wheatley, who was at the bottom, and her arm on Space, who was on top of Wheatley.

The elevator shot down and it passed the room where all those turrets were in, but now it was empty. They passed all the other rooms and were finally lowered into GLaDOS's chamber. The AI seemed distracted and looked like she didn't notice the elevator in her chamber. But then she swiveled around facing Chell, Wheatley, and Space. "Oh you came back, and with them?" GLaDOS glared at Wheatley the most. "I wanted to say that I'm really, really sorry for what I did," Wheatley started to apologize. "Stop there I can see that you're just trying to apologize to be fixed," GLaDOS said moved closer to the elevator. Wheatley blinked and looked down. "It was worth the try," He muttered and then looked at Chell.

"So he asked you to bring him here? Well that was stupid, and anyway how are you still alive?" GLaDOS questioned looking at Chell now. "I know I don't understand that either," Wheatley spoke up. "Does it look like I want you talking?" GLaDOS asked him. "Umm no it doesn't so I'll just stay quiet now, quiet as a mouse," Wheatley was about to start talking on and on until GLaDOS gave him a hard glare. "I'll fix him but I have to give some thought before I decide if I even want to fix you," She opened the elevator door letting Space and Wheatley roll out of it. A claw came down and picked up Space taking him to another room to be repaired.

Wheatley watched Space get taken away to be fixed and didn't say anything else but only looked down at the floor. Chell was about to step out of the elevator but GLaDOS looked over at her, making Chell feel uncomfortable. "Please re-enter the elevator and I'll send you to a relaxation chamber for some rest, while I have a word with him, "GLaDOS looked sharply at Wheatley.

Chell stepped back in the elevator and it sent her far down and stopped at a long hallway. She came out of the elevator and the door closed when she did. There were two doors on the left side of the hall and three on the right. She tried all the left doors and none opened. Then she tried the right and only the last one opened.

The room almost looked like the one she had woken up in and had first met Wheatley. There was a bed,a chair,a TV, and a fridge. The bed was small along with the TV and fridge. The TV didn't work but the fridge did, so Chell put the food items that needed to be cold in it. Some of the food had started to go bad so she would have to eat that first. She grabbed a banana and the rest of the crackers. The banana's peel had turned brown and the banana was squishy, but it still tasted good. The crackers had gone stale also but they were alright. Chell didn't know how long GLaDOS and Wheatley would be talking so she decided to take a nap while waiting.

* * *

><p>As Chell went down in the elevator Wheatley couldn't help but wish she was still there. "What to do with you?" GLaDOS was thinking out loud. "You could fix me and let us go?" Wheatley looked up at her. "You really think I'll let you go after all that? You've got to be joking," GLaDOS laughed. "Yeah because I was actually joking, just to let you know," Wheatley told her. "You weren't were you?" GLaDOS questioned him. "No I wasn't joking, I really do want to be fixed though," Wheatley stopped looking at GLaDOS and back at the floor.<p>

"I'll have to think about fixing you later, for now I'll just keep you there, just remember to stay quiet," Her tone was strong. GLaDOS swiveled back around and brought up a screen with a broken test chamber on it. She started to move some of the fallen tiles away and replace broken walls. "Umm…." Wheatley wanted to ask her something. "What does the moron want?" GLaDOS asked him still watching the monitor. "I'm not…I wanted to know what you are doing," Wheatley told her. "I'm fixing some of the old test chambers, obviously, "GLaDOS replied. "Sorry I was just wondering," Wheatley muttered. "You really want to know the answer whether or not I'm going to fix you or not don't you?" She asked. "Yes I really do!" Wheatley half shouted. "Fine, have fun," GLaDOS said and the tile that Whatley was on disappeared and now he was falling to GLaDOS's decision.

AN~ Okay now that they are back at Aperture Wheatley is going to be fixed but I'm having trouble if I should keep him as a core or have him be human like I've seen most others do. So the next chapter will take me a while probably and will hopefully be as long as this one, still not sure have to wait. Thank you for reading!


	6. What? What?

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 5- What What?

Chell woke up to the sound of GLaDOS calling her. She sat up in the bed and got up. "Please go to the elevator to meet me in my chamber," GLaDOS told Chell. She walked to the door still drowsy from just waking up. Going out in the hall she entered the elevator and went up back to GLaDOS's chamber.

The elevator appeared and Chell came out when it opened. "Good now that you're up please take a hand held portal device off the podium," GLaDOS said not looking at Chell but at a monitor.

There were two podiums with two portal guns. One had two blue stripes on it and the other had two orange stripes. _Why __are __there __two __portal __guns?_ Chell thought, as she walked up to the podiums. "Just pick one already," GLaDOS said now looking at her.

Chell grabbed the one with the orange stripes. "Thank you, now please go back in the elevator and you will be sent to your first found of tests," GLaDOS informed Chell. More tests, she should have known that GLaDOS would make her do more tests when she came back.

The elevator took a while before it stopped at the usual circular room with the screens showing her what to half expect. It showed that it would be involving the hard light bridges. She came out of the room and into the test chamber. A long hallway was in it then at the end a few white tiled spots. "Please wait a while for your testing partner to arrive," GLaDOS told Chell from one of the cameras.

_Wait? __Why __wait? _Chell thought and sat down on the cold tiled floor. She waited for over half and hour before the door opened up from behind her. _What __in __the __world? _Chell thought when she turned around to see who came in.

* * *

><p>Wheatley crashed down on a hard floor after GLaDOS moved the tile from under him. "Ouch that hurt," He complained. He blinked and saw that the room he was almost empty except for a table in the middle. "Hello?" He called hoping GLaDOS or Chell was there. No one answered him.<p>

"Oh okay very funny," He laughed thinking it was some sort of joke. But after he stopped laughing some of the tiles on the ceiling disappeared and some claws came down grabbing Wheatley and setting him onto the table.

"Hey! What's going on?" Wheatley demanded to know. GLaDOS finally answered him with her metallic laugh. "I thought you wanted to be _fixed_?" She said as some more claws came down some holding tools and others with parts. "Oh good I thought you were umm going to … You know," Wheatley said nervously. "Are you still sure about that?" She chuckled as even more claws came some of them with saws and blades.

"Now that you do that, I think you're just going to disassemble me," Wheatley muttered. "You are wrong first I'll fix you, and then I'll have some fun doing some tests on you," GLaDOS said before Wheatley was strapped to the table. "Tests? What do you mean by tests?" Wheatley asked, but right after he asked the claws got to work on fixing him, so he wouldn't be able to hear anything GLaDOS said.

Wheatley's fixing took over and hour to complete before GLaDOS started to talk to him again. "You have been fixed, now time for me to try something that will hopefully prove useful," GLaDOS said and the claws started to make something else new in front of Wheatley.

"What are you making?" Wheatley asked when it had gone silent again. "Just a little something for you," She replied hiding something from him. A claw came from above Wheatley and unstrapped him from the table and put him into GLaDOS's creation. "What is this?" Wheatley asked her. "It's a core testing unit that I came up with, I wanted to see how well a moron can solve tests," GLaDOS replied and the last few parts were placed on him.

When it was complete GLaDOS opened up a door that lead to an elevator. Wheatley's new testing unit was similar to the co-op testing bot called Atlas. There was a few differences, like how the arms and legs looked, they were a bit lower and a little shorter than Atlas's.

"Please make sure the unit is functioning properly by moving around," GLaDOS told Wheatley. He moved the hands around, they both worked. Then he walked forward and stumbled a bit then got used to how they worked. "Go to the elevator and I'll get you ready for your first tests in my chamber," GLaDOS said. He entered the elevator and it took him up to GLaDOS's chamber.

"Now take a portal device from podium over there and then go stand on the blue circle," GLaDOS swiveled around watching him. It was a blue striped portal gun and next to it was another podium but it was empty. "Just take it already," GLaDOS was still watching him. "Alright," Wheatley grabbed the gun.

"Now go and stand over on that blue circle," She told him. "Why?" Wheatley asked. "I need to scan you so that the reassembly machine can reassemble you, unless you don't want to be reassembled if you died," GLaDOS explained. "Oh yeah I do want to be reassembled just in case," Wheatley said walking over to the blue circle. "That's what I thought, begin scanning process," GLaDOS called and a round blue scanner came down and scanned all of Wheatley including the portal gun. Then announcer's voice came on, "scanning complete."

"Good now that is done go to the elevator for your tests," GLaDOS said and Wheatley walked to the elevator and went in it. The elevator took him pretty far down and it finally stopped at a circular room.

"Hard light bridges?" Wheatley wondered why the screens in the room showed him that. He walked up the metal stairs and entered a new room and saw Chell sitting on the ground, her back facing him. She got up and turned around when she saw him she got a very questioning look. "Hello!" Wheatley greeted her.

* * *

><p><em>Wheatley? <em>_What __did __GLaDOS __do to__him? _Chell thought as Wheatley greeted her. "See she fixed me and gave me a new body," Wheatley told Chell. "You two get moving you still need to complete your tests," GLaDOS came on sounding a little frustrated.

"Okay we're going now," Wheatley said walking down the hall to their first test. Chell followed him still staring at how he looked. "What?" Wheatley stopped looking at Chell. She shook her head and walked past him. "Oh okay…" He followed Chell now.

The first test was simple it had a second level with a box on it and a button back on the lower level. Chell used Wheatley to get up and get the box. She dropped it down to Wheatley and he set it on the button. Chell shot a portal on a spot they couldn't reach from below and set another portal down on Wheatley's level to get him up. The next test had two hard light bridges which needed to be used to get to the button and cube. Wheatley went and got the cube while Chell made a way to the button. Wheatley came across the hard light bridge and set the cube on the button.

The nest few test chambers were getting steadily harder, but nothing Chell couldn't handle. Wheatley on the other hand was having a hard time. By the end of the day they had done over 17 tests. Chell and Wheatley entered separate elevators when they had completed their final test. Chell was sent to her room while Wheatley was set back to GLaDOS.

Chell waved good-bye to Wheatley before they left. Her room was quiet and dark when she came in. She flipped the light switch on and saw a box was sitting on Chell's bed. She went over and looked inside. There was an assortment of food inside of it all made by Aperture. There was also a radio in it. She picked it up and put it on top of the fridge. Chell found a can opener in the cabinet next to the fridge. She opened the last of the canned peaches and ate it. She went over to the radio and turned it on. It played a song that she had heard before in one of the test chambers, called Exile Vilify. She left the radio on when she went to bed.

* * *

><p>After waving good-bye to Chell, Wheatley was taken back up to GLaDOS. "Hello!" He greeted her when the elevator arrived at her chamber. "Well, the moron was actually capable of testing," GLaDOS replied. "I'm not a moron if I can solve tests, right?" Wheatley questioned her. "Do you want to be crushed?" She counter questioned. "No, but I'm not a moron," Wheatley said. "Whatever you say moron," GLaDOS turned toward a monitor. "So what now?" Wheatley sat down.<p>

"You can continue testing on your own if you want to," GLaDOS told him. "Um is that my only option?" He asked. "Yes," She replied getting annoyed. "Oh...really?" Wheatley asked GLaDOS. "Good-bye moron," GLaDOS said and the tile Wheatley was sitting on disappeared and he fell down.

Wheatley fell all the way down to a new test chamber, able to land on his legs. GLaDOS would of course do that just to be mean to him. She knew that he couldn't solve tests very good without Chell. "Please begin testing," GLaDOS told him from a nearby camera. "Alright sheesh," Wheatley walked down to his first test by himself.

It took him nearly two whole hours before he solved his first test by himself. "Oh look you finally solved your first test and all by you self," GLaDOS jokingly cheered. He glared at the camera as she kept making fun of him. "Oh come on can't you take a joke?" GLaDOS saw Wheatley getting mad. "Yes I can, but I don't like it when you have to be so mean," Wheatley explained. "Well get used to it," GLaDOS said to Wheatley.

It took Wheatley the whole night to finish the rest of the tests. Now that it was morning Wheatley would have to meet up with Chell in their new test chambers together. While Wheatley was waiting for Chell he started to play with the portal gun.

"Please stop fiddling around with the hand held portal device," GLaDOS commanded Wheatley. He set his gun down and sat down next to it. About ten or twelve minutes later Chell finally came from the elevator and walked up to Wheatley. She waved to him and he waved back. "So you ready to get these tests over with?" Wheatley asked. Chell nodded and headed down the hall. Wheatley followed slowly from behind. _It __feels __like __I__'__ve __been __testing __non-stop, _Wheatley thought.

* * *

><p>Chell set her portals waiting for Wheatley to go through them and get the cube. He jumped down in the portal on the floor and was flung to the cube. Then jumped down and placed it on the button. The next test was split in half by dark green water. There was an aerial faith plate in the center of their half of the room. Chell wanted to make sure that if she went that it would be safe, so she pointed at it telling Wheatley to go on. "Are you sure?" Wheatley asked before stepping on it. Chell shrugged and pushed Wheatley on it.<p>

The plate flung him across to the other side, but there was another aerial faith plate and he landed on that one. It sent him back across, but the ceiling on Chell's side was lower than the other and Wheatley hit it and fell into the water.

Chell ran to the edge and started to scan the water for any signs of Wheatley. Then she heard the door to the test open. Wheatley stepped in all new. "I wish you didn't make me go on that, but where I hit the wall is a white tiled area," Wheatley told her. She nodded and looked at the wall of the other side. There was also a white tiled spot on it. She pointed to show Wheatley. "Oh I get it," He shot his portal there then went on the aerial faith plate sending him on the other faith plate. Before he hit the wall he put another portal on it letting him get to the door.

Chell knew it was her turn so she went on the faith plate and got up joining with Wheatley. "Fun wasn't it?" He asked. She nodded and went through the door to the elevator and the next test chamber. They did the last 5 tests in about 6 hours. "Hey moron you can either do more tests by yourself or you can go with her," GLaDOS told Wheatley before they went in their elevators. "I rather go with her than do tests," Wheatley said. "Fine, you go take the little moron out of the core testing unit," GLaDOS told Chell. She held onto Wheatley's handle bars and got him off of the unit. "Please push the empty core testing unit in the other elevator," GLaDOS said. Chell set Wheatley in her elevator and push the unit in the other elevator.

It took the unit somewhere else, probably to GLaDOS. Chell went to her elevator and it took her to her room. She put Wheatley on the chair when she entered her room. She cooked some beans for dinner. "So what's the plan with escaping here?" Wheatley asked. Chell looked at him and didn't stop. "What? Do you have a plan?" He asked her again. She shook her head and went back to eating her beans. Chell knew that GLaDOS knew almost all her tricks and that she would probably be stuck there for the rest of her life.

AN~ I'm so sorry that this took so long to get up I've been super busy and haven't had much time to work on this. I will try to be faster with getting the next chapter up, but thank you for waiting.


	7. Escape?

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter Six- Escape?

"Alright so I was thinking during a test we find one of those plugs that I can use and I'll get us out of there," Wheatley explained. Chell was sitting on the edge of her bed listening to him. "It does sound like a good idea right?" He asked. Chell shrugged and got up. "Well it's worth a try, I mean what's the worst thing that can happen, Oh wait I just thought of something," Wheatley said as Chell picked him up and headed over to the door.

They were sent to their first test where the core testing unit was waiting. Chell put Wheatley in it and they got to work on testing and looking for a way to escape. "Hey look at this," Wheatley was by a white tiled panel. She came over to him to see what he was going on about. The panel was not all the way sealed to the wall. "Let me fix that," GLaDOS said and the panel started to slide back into place. "No let me," Wheatley started to pull it back out. "Stop that!" GLaDOS commanded him. "Almost got it," Wheatley pulled it more, enough so Chell could get in. She went in the opening and saw some metal stairs to the left. Eventually Wheatley managed to get in also.

"Not entirely my plan, but at least we're out of there," He said. Chell lead the way up the stairs and to another room. It had a window looking out on anyone testing. There was a desk, a computer, and some files that were old and dirty. "Wow I can see the test chamber," Wheatley exclaimed. Chell nodded and went to a door that was to her left. It was locked so she got Wheatley to push it open. His unit was proving useful to their escape. They were now walking on a long catwalk above some panels. A chamber next to them moved closer and the panels lifted up revealing a test chamber. "Just come back we've been through this before and you know what will happen," GLaDOS warned them.

"Come on let's go before she puts turrets in there," Wheatley said pulling Chell forward, continuing their escape. They passed several other chambers while they walked. The catwalk ended at a tall chamber. Chell opened the door to find that it was a lab of some kind. Tools, parts, and schematics were lying around everywhere. Then she heard something from a large box. The noise was muffled, so it took a while before they found the real box. Wheatley had to open the box for Chell because it was locked.

"Hey! Oh hi there, wait haven't I seen you two before?" It was Rick the Adventure Core in the box. "Yeah, hey you're one of those Cores she put on me when I…Oh sorry," Wheatley quickly apologized to Chell. "Because you're here can you take me with you?" Rick asked them. "It's mainly her choice, but I'm not taking you," Wheatley said. Chell looked at Wheatley then back at Rick and picked him up. Some how Rick was heavier than Wheatley. "You're really going to take him?" Wheatley asked. She nodded and headed out through the door in the back of the room.

"Thank you pretty lady for not leaving me," Rick said. They approached another chamber, this one bigger than the other. "Danger, high voltage," Wheatley repeated a sign on the door. "What does that mean?" Wheatley asked. "It means there's danger ahead moron," Rick told him. "Not you too, because I'm not a moron," Wheatley explained getting mad at Rick. Chell pushed the door open and saw there was a large room with a scanner to the right, a glass wall blocking the other half of the room, and a different door to the left wall.

"What's all this junk?" Rick wondered aloud. "Look up there it ways duplication chamber," Wheatley pointed. "Oh I know you get out of your unit and put it in the scanner to make me one so I don't have to be carried around," Rick said. "That's actually not a bad idea, but what if something goes wrong?" Wheatley questioned Rick. "I guess we're just going to have to try it and find out," Rick replied. Chell set him on a nearby swivel chair and was leading over to Wheatley. "Hey now I didn't agree to anything yet," He told Chell backing up. Chell sighed and gave him a glare. "Fine because he is pretty heavy," Wheatley said and Chell took him out of the unit. She set him on a chair next to Rick and pushed the unit to the scanner. Chell went over to the control panel that was in front of the glass window. There was a big red button that said start. She pushed the button and it scanned the unit and started to make a new one behind the glass.

It took several minutes to finish, but when it was done the machine put it through the door. "There you go, now you can leave us alone," Wheatley told Rick as Chell put him back in his unit. "Why should I?" Rick questioned and Chell put him in his unit. "Because you're annoying and not smart," Wheatley replied standing in front of him. "Do you want to take this outside?" Rick challenged. Chell didn't want them both to break their units so she stood in between them. "Oh yeah we're still escaping, I forgot that," Wheatley took a step back. Chell went and headed to the door next to the scanner. Rick and Wheatley followed her glaring at each other.

They walked across several more catwalks and had entered quite a few other chambers. "When are we going to see some action?" Rick asked. "I for one don't want too," Wheatley said. "What are you chicken?" Rick taunted. "No I rather not get my unit broken," Wheatley told him. "Wimp," Rick muttered. "What?" Wheatley looked back at him. "Oh nothing," He looked away. Chell opened a door to a chamber in front of them. The lights were turned off so Chell couldn't see. "I got it," Wheatley turned his light on. The lights in the room had been shot out by a tipped turret that was now off-line. "I wonder how long it's has been like this," Wheatley commented. The room was fairly large and full of other turrets. A pink glow came from the far side of the room. "Let me," Rick walked forward to investigate.

He came back holding the Fact Core. "Oh great not him," Wheatley groaned. "I know so let's break him!" Rick yelled. "The Fate Core can't be destroyed, he is the strongest core," Fact was telling them. Chell took Fact from Rick. "I was just kidding," Rick told her. "Yeah and also I'll hold him," Wheatley said. Chell nodded, because Fact weighed the same as Rick maybe a little heavier.

Soon they realized that the Fact Core was super annoying with most of his false facts. "Why don't you just shut up?" Rick said. "The Fact Core is smarter than all of you combined," Fact replied. "None of your facts even make sense!" Rick yelled. "The Fact Core is always right," He said. "Can we just leave him, he won't shut up," Rick asked Chell. She just shrugged in reply. "The Fact Core knows how to help with escaping," Fact spoke up. "Yeah sure you do," Rick muttered.

They soon got to another chamber. This one had some desks, like some of the others they had come across. Only one computer was working, but all it had on its screen was random data. "What's this?" Rick asked picking up a broken cube. "It's just a weighted cube," Wheatley said taking it from Rick. "Hey it looks like those cubes I used to make walking ones," Wheatley held it up. "Why?" Rick asked. "So they could walk on buttons, but they couldn't," He trailed off seeing Chell leave the room. "Hey wait for us," Rick ran after her. Wheatley couldn't run as fast as Rick from the weight of Fact. "I'm just going to leave you here," He set Fact down in front of a monitor and went after Rick and Chell. "Fact, moths are not butterflies, but flies," Was the last thing Wheatley heard from Fact as he left the room.

"What's the matter," Rick was asking Chell when Wheatley came out. She shrugged almost wishing she could talk to them. "She probably wants to get out of here," Wheatley said coming up. "Well then let's get going, there must be an elevator around here somewhere," Rick led the way. "Look way over there, I can see part of an elevator, but we got to be careful remember she still runs them," Wheatley said running over to a catwalk to the elevator.

"You should go first," Rick told Wheatley. "Me? Why me?" Wheatley questioned. "Because I said so, now get in it," Rick pushed Wheatley in the elevator. The door slid shut and sent him up and a new elevator appeared. "I'll go then you," Rick went in next. Chell waited for the next elevator while watching Rick go up. It came a little slower than Rick's had, but at least it came. Chell stepped in and it took her up also.

The elevators had stopped at a very old abandoned test chamber. Rick and Wheatley were waiting inside when Chell came in. "Looks like we have to solve this test in order to get to the next elevator," Wheatley told Chell. "All this stuff looks to hard lets just break the door open," Rick went to the door. He pulled at it and hit it but nothing worked. "Hey why don't you come and help me?" Rick asked Wheatley. "I don't want to break my unit trying to open a door," He replied. "Fine suit yourself," Rick started to try and pry the door open.

Thirty minutes later and Rick had only managed to get an inch of the door open. "It would be faster if we just solved the test you know," Wheatley said. "No it wouldn't it would take days to solve this test," Rick replied. Meanwhile Chell was busy looking for the cube to open the door. There was a button beside Rick and one of the push buttons high above her. When they were escaping they both had accidentally dropped their portal guns, so she would have to find another way. She went up to Wheatley and tapped him. "What?" He turned around. She pointed to the button that was too high for her to get to. "Oh I guess you want me to help you up," Wheatley walked to the wall. Chell climbed on his back and was barely able to get a hold on the ledge. She looked down at Wheatley and waved, but he was already heading back over to watch Rick.

Chell pushed the button and cube dropped now across the room. She jumped down and went over to the cube. Getting closer to the cube Chell realized that it was a weighted companion cube. She picked it up and took it over to where Rick and Wheatley were at. Chell set the companion cube down and sat next to it waiting for Rick to get the door open. Then she got an idea, she got up and stood on the button letting the door fly open making Rick fall down. "See I got it open," He picked himself up. Then he was Chell standing on the button. "Oh, well I can put that cube on the button so we can go in," Rick said, but Chell shook her head. "Fine what do you want me to do then?" He asked. Chell held her arms apart mimicking someone holding a door open. "Alright, hey you come help me hold the door open," Rick told Wheatley. "Fine," He sighed and held the left door open while Rick held the right open. Chell grabbed her cube and quickly ran in then Rick and Wheatley jumped back letting the door close.

"That was hard," Wheatley said. "No it wasn't, I once had a tangle with a crocodile and came out alive," Rick boasted. "You've never even been out of this facility, so how could you have fought one?" Wheatley questioned. "It fell through one of those holds that are sometimes in the ceiling," He replied and went in the elevator, then Wheatley, and last Chell with her cube.

It was taking a pretty long time for the elevator to stop, but Chell soon found out why. Wheatley and Rick were standing in front of the elevator when Chell came up blocking part of her view. But she knew where she was at, back in GLaDOS's chamber.

AN~ So they have escaped but made a wrong turn and are straight back with GLaDOS, ironic. Anyway I hope you like this chapter sorry again for it taking so long to publish. I've had a bunch of stuff happen. I got my dads old PS3 and having been playing that almost none stop. I got homework which is so boring to do but I have to and with Halloween I had to help my mom with passing out candy. But on a brighter side I finally got a companion cube of my own that I ordered online. Well enough with me enjoy reading!


	8. Decisions

Not Aperture Science Again

Chapter 7- Decisions

"You know if you had just listened to me none of this would have happened," GLaDOS was telling them. "And I see you made another core testing unit for him," She continued. "Can't you just let us go? I mean you don't have much use with us, you still have those other co-op testing bots," Wheatley tried to reason with her. "You're wrong, I still do have uses with you and I can't remember where those two were at last," GLaDOS explained. "You have all those cameras how could you loose them?" Rick questioned. "I think they fell though a lose floor panel," She replied. "Now each of you will be sent to your proper punishments and when it's over you'll be sent back to testing, well except for you," She was looking at Rick.

Chell who was still in the elevator was now sent down to her own punishment. Rick and Wheatley were left up with GLaDOS to decide their punishments. The elevator strangely stopped at the room before a test. She walked carefully out and went through the door. A bright yellow eyed core was in a core testing unit waiting for Chell. She recognized the core at once as the Space Core. "Space? Oh hi lady! Wanna go to space?" He asked. Chell just shook her head and walked on to the testing area. Space followed behind her mumbling something about space. There were a new portal guns waiting for Chell and Space. She had to put in Space's hands for him, because he wouldn't get it on his own. The challenge of the test was to solve the test with him and it was to do only one test with the Space Core.

* * *

><p>"Oh come on you can't be that mean to take away my new body," Rick was complaining as GLaDOS was trying to get him out of the unit. "Sorry, but this is for testing only, and you're just a defective, broken, moronic core," GLaDOS said sharply, and she finally got him out of the unit. "But before you put me in that box I saw you were making another unit," Rick said as GLaDOS set him and the unit on the ground. "That's none of your business," GLaDOS told him. "And now for you," She directed her attention to Wheatley. "What?" Wheatley said frantically, backing up. "Just stay still so we can get this over with," GLaDOS moved her robotic claws toward him. "No! No!" He yelled as he was taken from his unit. "Good now we are all set for your punishments," GLaDOS dropped Wheatley next to Rick. "Good-bye morons," She sent them both down to anther room.<p>

"Ouch!" Wheatley hit the floor with Rick next to him. "We should have just left you in that box," Wheatley muttered. "What'd I do?" Rick questioned. "You got her mad!" Wheatley snapped at him. "So did you," Rick glared at Wheatley. Before he could respond something else dropped in with them. "Fact ceilings were made by floors," It was the Fact Core. "You two will listen to him for about one hour, and then I'll take you elsewhere," GLaDOS came on. "How did you even get him?" Rick asked. "Oh I have my ways," GLaDOS said. "Then why didn't you use your _ways _to get us instead of letting us escape?" Rick dared to question. "It was funnier seeing you guys make your way back to me on your own," She explained to them. "But I thought you controlled the elevators?" Wheatley asked. "I do but I was just messing with your heads," She seemed to be very glad of making them mad. Before they could respond to her, she shut off the camera.

"Fact over one-million of the population is made of cheese," Fact spoke up. "No it's not, please just bloody shut up!" Wheatley yelled at Fact. "You can not win a battle with The Fact Core," He replied to Wheatley. "Oh yeah I bet you we can," Rick challenged Fact. "You two will never win, it is already obvious who will win, me," Fact replied. "Will not, we can so beat you!" Rick retorted. "Wait how would we even fight?" Wheatley asked. "You can't because the only battle we can fight is with whits, which none of you have," Fact told them. "Say that again four-eyes," Rick dared. "You two are not intelligent enough for a battle of whit's against me," Fact re-ordered his words.

"That's it!" Rick yelled trying to move forward. He only managed to roll over and tap Fact on the side. "That attempt of an attack has failed, The Fact Core could do better," He told Rick. "You sure about that because if I had my unit right now you would have already been crushed," Rick replied. "Can we just stay quiet, can't you see that this is our punishment, to have a pointless argument with him," Wheatley spoke up, through Rick and Fact's arguing. "I can do that but what about him?" Rick glared at Fact. "Maybe just ignore him," Wheatley suggested. They both went silent and nothing made a sound until Fact started talking again.

"There can be no silence without noise," He said. "Just continue to ignore him," Wheatley whispered to Rick. "I'm trying," Rick whispered back. "Fact boxes are triangles," Fact continued to talk. "Fact all mice are birds," He still went on with talking. "Oh just shut up!" Rick couldn't hold it in anymore. "I said to ignore him!" Wheatley yelled at Rick. "Well I tried," Rick snapped. "Yeah, for two seconds," Wheatley muttered.

Then a camera came on from the left wall. "How are you two doing with your punishment?" GLaDOS asked them. "We're doing just great," Wheatley lied. "I see, well then you two will be here for another few minutes or until she finished with her test with the Space Core," GLaDOS informed them. "Wait she's testing with Space?" Wheatley asked. "That's what I said," GLaDOS responded. "Oh so that's her punishment," Wheatley trailed off thinking. "By the way, what are you going to do to us after we're done with our punishments?" Wheatley asked. "I thought I told you already, but anyway ignore what I might have said I've changed my mind and now thinking of something else," GLaDOS explained and the camera disappeared into the wall. "Great! That's just great! She hasn't decided what to do with us," Rick said sarcastically. "It is a good thing she hasn't decided yet, so we can convince her not to destroy us or whatever she might do," Wheatley said. "Whatever let's just hope that lady will finish her test with Space soon," Rick muttered. "She will I know she can," Wheatley said. "Fact air is made up of whole food," Fact core told them.

* * *

><p>Chell was waiting impatiently for Space to come over to her. He was standing around talking about the space cops again. She needed him to stand on a button to open a door. Space finally noticed her staring at him. "Space?" He asked. She nodded to see if he would come over. He waddled over and stood right on the button not realizing he did. Before Space could trail off again and get off the button Chell shot a portal though the door around the corner and put her second one on the wall next to her. She went over and got her companion cube from the other button that was turning off an emancipation grill in front of the door. Now she took hold of Space's hand and took him through her portal. Finally she got done with her punishment with Space. They were sent to GLaDOS's chamber when they had finished.<p>

"Good you're finally done," She said when Chell and Space entered. "And I can see that you took something from the test chamber," GLaDOS was eyeing the companion cube Chell was holding. GLaDOS took Space away through a door and turned back to Chell. "You will be sent to you next punishment," She told her. Chell sighed wondering how many punishments she would have to go though. "Don't worry this is your last one," GLaDOS told Chell sending up an elevator opposite the one already in the room. "Please leave that in the room," GLaDOS referred to the companion cube that was in Chell's arms. Chell did as she was told and left the cube in with GLaDOS. "Good luck," GLaDOS said as Chell was sent down.

It was just another test, but this one had lots and lots of turrets. She shook her head, is tests all she can do for punishments. The thing about the test was a long hall way, the turrets blocked by a gate, but could still shoot her, and the only way to go was forward. Chell sprinted to a spot that was safe from the turrets firing. She barely avoided getting shot by the turrets as she slid into the safe room. The next safe room was farther away and had a button in it. When she was ready Chell dashed out and made it to the other safe room. One of the turrets bullets had slightly grazed her leg but she was fine. She pushed the button and a box dropped in the middle of the next hall. Chell ran though the hall and quickly grabbed the cube and continued to the safe room. More turret bullets had grazed her legs but none had hit her. She put the cube on the button beside her and a door opened up at the end of the hall. This was the last run and the longest of all the others. She shot out in full speed dodging the bullets flying at her. She narrowly made it to the door with a cut on her left arm.

Now that was over she went in the elevator and was sent back to GLaDOS. "Good job, you've passed all of your punishments now those morons can come back," GLaDOS said and a door opened up and a whole room had been sent up with Rick, Wheatley, and Fact inside. GLaDOS angled the room and they all rolled out and into her chamber. "Hello!" Wheatley greeted them. "Are we done now?" Rick asked. "Not sure, I'm still thinking," GLaDOS said and took Fact away before he could say anything. Rick and Wheatley both sighed in relief. "Oh come on, now it's your chance to convince me not to destroy you right now," GLaDOS said.

"Okay, we won't try to escape again," Wheatley told her. "I doubt that," GLaDOS replied. "We'll not break anymore stuff here," He continued. "Very unlikely," She turned to Chell who had gone back over to where she had left her companion cube. "What are you doing? Did I say you could have that back?" GLaDOS questioned. Chell shook her head, but still got her cube anyway. GLaDOS turned back to Wheatley and Rick who were quietly arguing with each other.

"Stop your bickering I've decided that all of you will continue testing and if you try to escape or if you do and I catch you again it won't be pretty," The AI warned them before sending them away. A elevator came in the room and Chell had to leave her companion cube with GLaDOS again, she also had to carry Rick and Wheatley. They were sent to a large test chamber with over three buttons and one door. Chell carried Wheatley and Rick in the chamber and GLaDOS sent down two core testing units. Chell put them in the units and started the test. She knew that if they all stood on all the buttons the door would open, but they needed something else to keep it open so they could leave though it. Chell looked up and saw three cubes on three different ledges all high off the ground. As Chell was thinking Wheatley and Rick were busy arguing. She went over to Rick and tried to show him that she needed to get up to the cubes.

"Need some help there pretty lady?" Rick said turning around. She just nodded and walked under the cubes position. "Do you want me to get that?" He asked. Chell just nodded not knowing how else to answer. "Okay, hey come help me," Rick called to Wheatley. "Why should I?" Wheatley questioned. "Because if you don't I'll punch your face in!" Rick snapped. "Alright I'll help sheesh," Wheatley walked over to him. "Just stand right here," Rick told him. Wheatley did as Rick asked. "Now what?" Wheatley asked. "This!" Rick yelled and grabbed Wheatley throwing him up on the ledge next to the cube. Wheatley got up and yelled at Rick. "Get that cube!" Rick yelled back at him. "What cube?" Wheatley twirled around looking for the cube. "Oh that cube," He half laughed and picked it up then threw it down. Chell grabbed it and set it on one of the buttons.

"Okay we got one, so where are the other two?" Rick asked. Chell pointed up at the other cubes. "Oh no, you're not throwing me up there again," Wheatley said before Rick could tell him anything. "Do you want to be stuck in this test chamber?" Rick questioned. "No," Wheatley sighed. "Good now go get over there unless you want to throw me up there," Rick said walking over to the second cube. Wheatley and Rick worked together, for once, to get the cubes. Chell took the cubes and set them in their right places. "This is stupid," Rick said after they walked through the doo. "Well we wouldn't be in this mess if we hadn't gone in that elevator before she caught us," Wheatley informed Rick. "I know that, and now if we do escape we have to make sure not to get caught again," Rick replied. "You know I can hear you right?" GLaDOS told them. Chell was standing to the side with her hand on her head.

"Great now we have absolutely no chances of escaping now," Wheatley yelled at Rick. "Actually I've been thinking about letting you go," GLaDOS said. "What? You're really going to let us go?" Wheatley looked at the camera above them. "Now you say it like that you make me want to change my mind," GLaDOS replied. "No don't, he's just a moron remember," Rick told her. "Yes I know that and it's exactly why I think I should keep you two here and let her go," GLaDOS's camera looked over at Chell, who was sitting on the floor watching them. "But why not let us go?" Wheatley asked. "Because you two aren't exactly normal for humans to see walking around," GLaDOS replied looking at Wheatley now. "Oh, but still what would you do with us?" Wheatley asked.

"Maybe you two can help with my tests or experiments," GLaDOS told him. "You know I can't do or make tests," Wheatley countered. "Yeah and that stuff is boring, I want more action and violence," Rick stated. "Then you can help in the live fire combat course," GLaDOS ignored Wheatley and looked over at Rick. "Now that's more like it," Rick said happily. "Good, now what about you?" GLaDOS asked Wheatley. "I want to leave," He replied seriously. "I'm sure I can find you something to do later, now please enter your elevators and you'll be sent up to my chamber," GLaDOS said. "Fine," Wheatley muttered and went in his elevator and so did Rick and Chell.

Once there GLaDOS directed Rick to the combat course and was now left with Chell and Wheatley. "So do you really want to go with her?" GLaDOS questioned Wheatley. "I'm positive, I don't want to stay here," Wheatley partly glared at her. "Why's that?" GLaDOS asked. "Well first of all you made me and Rick listen to the Fact Core, and also made me do tests, which we both know I can barely do," Wheatley explained. "Yes, but now that I think about it, you should be able to get to do some more stuff, so maybe you don't go and try to be in my body again," GLaDOS somewhat muttered. "Still there's barely anything to do here except test," Wheatley complained.

GLaDOS glared at him for a bit then turned to Chell. Chell was sitting on her companion cube waiting for them to be done. "I'm going to guess that you want out, correct?" GLaDOS asked. Chell nodded and stood up. "Fine I'll get the elevator ready again, and this time, really do try not to come back," GLaDOS said as the elevator entered the room. "Come on, please let me go with her," Wheatley still complained. Chell picked up her cube and headed to the elevator while GLaDOS and Wheatley talked. "I said no and that's final," GLaDOS firmly told him. Wheatley finally shut up and was now waving good-bye to Chell. She waved back and thought how lucky she was to have a second chance again. "Don't mess up this time," GLaDOS warned her before she was out of sight.

"So now all is left is us," Wheatley said looking at GLaDOS. "Yes and until next time," She replied and opened a door. "I think I finally found a new job for you," GLaDOS told him. "What's that?" He asked. "You can think up new ideas for some turrets or test chamber add-ons, that's if they actually seem good enough," GLaDOS replied. "That might work or not, I wish you would have just let me go too," Wheatley sighed. "Just leave now before I change my mind," GLaDOS commanded. Wheatley sighed again and went though the door to his new work area. "At least this is better than nothing," He sat down and started to think. So Wheatley, Rick, and GLaDOS finally worked together on test chambers making them more dangerous than ever and getting some science done. Meanwhile Chell finally got her own life back, doing whatever she pleased.

AN- I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter done, I literally had to slap myself and get to work on it. I was busy with a bunch of other stuff I lost the interest in writing fanfictions, but now I've started to write again. Now I have a new fanfic coming up about Blue and Orange, I'll start working on that one as soon as possible. So thank you for waiting and I hope you've enjoyed this fanfic. (Also sorry if the ending was dumb or crummy)


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